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lucyatoz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
It is a really interesting premise for a story, telling the tale from four very different points of view - Princess Beatrice, the heir, Princess Samantha, the spare, Daphne Deighton, ex-girlfriend to Jefferson, the youngest child of King George IV, and Nina Gonzalez, daughter of a cabinet minster and best friend to Princess Samantha.
It is full of teenage angst and romance, with lots of characters and plots crossing over each other, as they each try to figure out their place in their rarefied world of Royalty. I was a little disappointed with the ending although I appreciate that this gave it a lead into the next book in the series.
I borrowed a copy of this book from Taunton Library and listened to it on CloudLibrary. I read this for the 52 Book Club Summer Reading Challenge 2024, for prompt 12, gymnastics rings, jewellery on the cover.
Graphic: Cancer, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Minor: Cursing
claudiajanette's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Cancer and Death of parent
Moderate: Drug abuse, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Classism
piperrhoads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Toxic friendship and Alcohol
saoirse_the_thespian's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Bullying and Classism
Moderate: Cancer, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Death of parent
luna_cash's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Medical content, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
there’s both cheatingisitcertain's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Graphic: Infidelity and Death of parent
Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
rhythmofryn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Cancer, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent
Moderate: Toxic friendship and Alcohol
Minor: Misogyny
reddeddy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Graphic: Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Classism
Moderate: Body shaming, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Grief, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Dysphoria
Minor: Child death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Sexual content, Slavery, Xenophobia, Blood, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail
keysmashhh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Character: 4/5
Relationships: 3/5
World-Building: 3/5
Genre: 3.5/5
Plot: Most parts of the plot made sense and were paced really well, the only part I was sceptical of was Nina and Sam's resolution - to me, it felt like they made up too quickly without really addressing the issues of their friendship. The ending though! :0 I both saw it coming and didn't, even if it was a little predictable that didn't stop me from getting goosebumps when everyone bowed.
Character: Jeff was my favourite character, it was slightly frustrating that we never got a chapter from his perspective as I feel that could have really helped me get on board with his relationship with Nina. Nina was a likeable enough character however I did get frustrated at her actions. Although he was a minor character Ethan also intrigued me, I would have liked maybe one or two chapters from his POV (maybe about him and Daphne) Daphne was an unlikable character but I understood her motivations. Beatrice was an interesting character that definitely grew on me. Teddy, I really liked him, I just kind of felt he got lost amongst the rest of the stronger personalities - I'm hoping we see more of him in Book 2. In terms of Diversity, I felt it lacked in POC and Queer characters (other than Nina and her parents) - I think a plotline where one of the royals has to explore the implications of having a queer relationship in America would have been really impactful and added a different sort of storyline.
Relationships: Some of them were alright (Ethan and Daphne's complicated relationship really interested me, I have to say Jeff and Nina's got a little too boring but them splitting up made it more interesting.
World-Building: An amazing premise, I liked the small hints at America's history we got through conversations with Bea and the King - I would have loved to know more about the history of this distorted America
Genre: Young Adult. Contemporary. Romance. - a genre filled with cliches and tropes - the royalty trope will always be fascinating to me. I liked the romance features (THERE WAS ONLY ONE BED!) but I felt that sometimes it was the only thing anyone was talking about. The moments of solidarity between Bea and Sam felt so genuinely real and I liked it but I felt that some scenes had so much emphasis on the romance that we lost the friendships a little bit, I would have loved to see a scene where Teddy, Jeff and Ethan hung out or Sam met Nina's college friends.
Graphic: Cancer and Death of parent
Moderate: Toxic friendship
Minor: Drug use and Alcohol
elskabee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Unfortunately, the book suffered from focusing on too many characters and so only superficially dealt with each characters conflicts and romance. In fact, it was really difficult for the first 50% of the book to keep track of each character (who they are, who they like, their personality) because there's FOUR character perspectives that it's roughly equally split between and they're all young women who are either in the royal family or closely tied to it. Not to mention everyone is cheating on everyone (not judging but it makes it even harder to keep track) or in some other secret relationship. So why did we need four characters?
I also don't feel like this needed to be a royalty focused book? So much time is spent on relationship drama and hardly any on the royalty stuff? It's just kind of a backdrop that has only some impact on the plot so it felt more Gossip Girl than say, Red, White, and Royal Blue. I honestly think this would make a better TV show than book series just because of the way it's structured. But that's just my opinion lol
Graphic: Infidelity and Death of parent
Moderate: Chronic illness and Toxic friendship
Minor: Sexism